The Bet
by Cmd1
Summary: An unusal argument leads to an interesting bet.
1. ACT I: The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown Down

The Bet By Cmd1 (cmd11x@iwon.com)  
  
Disclaimer: The Powerpuff Girls are owned by Craig McCracken and Cartoon Network. (I think)  
  
Part One:  
  
The City of Townsville had been enjoying a rather relatively peaceful time. All the major criminals, such as Mojo Jojo, had decided to go on vacation, and monster attacks have been down to next to nothing. Thus, leaving the world's strongest and cutest super heroines with a bit more free time than usual. Buttercup had wisely decided to use this free time to catch up on her video gaming. However, at the present time her gaming had not been up to its usual quality.  
  
"What's with me today?" The green eyed puff sighed in frustration. She then noticed a possible answer, Bubbles. Rather than shriek out advice every five seconds, as she had usually done, the young girl just sat there with a look that Buttercup usually saw in the mirror after a bad day. "What your problem?" Buttercup asked her normally cheerful sister.  
  
"Ooooh! I'm just so mad at Blossom right now!" Bubbles answered, stomping her foot to emphasize the 'Ooooh.'  
  
The shock of this statement sent Buttercup's video game character into a wall of spikes, doing a rather nasty bit of damage. Bubbles had rarely ever gotten this mad at Buttercup, let alone Blossom. "Uhh, why?" she asked.  
  
Bubbles sharply swung her head towards Buttercup, "I was trying to draw a pretty picture of a pretty pink pony and then Blossom said that pink ponies were bio. bioge."  
  
"Biogenetically impossible?"  
  
"Yeah that, and then she said all my other pictures were wrong too. 'The sun doesn't have smiley face, the grass is supposed to be greener, the raven's migration path doesn't come anywhere near Townsville' and other dumb, mean stuff. Then I tried to play with my stuffed animals, but she wouldn't let do that either. 'Animals don't talk Bubbles. You're disturbing me Bubbles! WASH BEHIND YOUR EARS BUBBLES!!' SHE JUST MAKES ME SO DARN MAD!!!!!'  
  
* boom, arrrgh, Game Over ha ha ha * 'Let us go out this evening for pleasure. The night is still young.'  
  
Once the shock of Bubbles's tirade had passed, Buttercup gave her sister an annoyed look. "Geez Bubbles, why don't you just do your dumb ol' drawings the way you want and tell Blossom if she doesn't like it she can stick it in her hat."  
  
"But she doesn't wear a hat." Buttercup often wondered how Bubbles managed to make it so far as a super hero.  
  
"No dummy, I mean tell her to let you draw the way you want."  
  
"You really think I should?" The concept of insurrection was a bit alien to Bubbles.  
  
"Yeah, just because she's the leader doesn't mean she can tell you how to have fun."  
  
"Yeah!" Bubbles replied growing in confidence.  
  
"And she doesn't have the right to criticize your pictures."  
  
"Yeah!!"  
  
"And a picture of a pink pony isn't going to make her brain fall out, so why does she care!"  
  
"YEAH!!! Eww."  
  
"So get up there and draw it your way, baby!"  
  
"I'll do it!" With that, Bubbles shot back up stairs, leaving Buttercup alone.  
  
"Finally, I can play my game in." Buttercup was interrupted by her watch alarm. Buttercup's eyes lit up. It was time for her favorite non-cartoon, non-sports show. His show. The show he was on.  
  
Some time later  
  
Professor Utonium emerged from his lab to once again find out his daughters were embroiled in yet another sisterly argument. However, this all too familiar sound seemed to be missing something. Yet, the Professor couldn't quite put his finger on it. As he walked toward the stairs to upper levels of the Utonium household, the Professor noticed that the television was broadcasting a cable news program. 'Blossom must have been watching and forgot to turn it off.' the Professor deduced.  
  
'.and that's my most ridiculous item of the day. And now your letters, Euretta Spinozza from Scottsdale, Arizona writes.'  
  
"Buttercup?" The Professor wasn't sure what surprised him more, that Buttercup wasn't involved in the shouting going on upstairs or that she was watching a news/opinion program, and judging by the expression on her face, quite enjoying it.  
  
"Oh Professor, uhh I wasn't watching this. I was just looking for something else." Buttercup responded in a startled voice as she fumbled with remote control, her face reddening.  
  
"Now Buttercup, watching these type of shows doesn't make you any less tough." The Professor smiled at his green-eyed daughter, "I'm glad you found a show about the news and today's current events that you can enjoy."  
  
"News? Oh yeah, the news heh-heh-heh." Buttercup relaxed when she realized the Professor didn't realize why she was watching.  
  
"By the way, do you know why your sisters are fighting?"  
  
"Huh?" Buttercup was so involved in watching her favorite news/opinion program, and daydreaming about the host during the commercials, that she didn't notice the shouting match going on in the bedroom upstairs. "Oh, well Bubbles was mad at Blossom for bugging her about her drawings or something."  
  
"Well let's see if we can't break it up." The Professor sighed and went upstairs with Buttercup floating right behind him.  
  
When the Professor opened the bedroom door, he found that Bubbles and Blossom were engaged in a rather heated argument. Buttercup just floated beside her father, trying to make out what her sisters were saying, this being the first time she had actually seen her sisters go at it like this without being involved. While most of the yelling was lost to her, she caught a few infantile insults like 'doo-doo brain,' 'smelly head,' and a totally new one, 'ca-ca cabeza' from Bubbles and Blossom's usual high-end vocabulary which Buttercup had no intention of trying to decipher.  
  
"Girls!" the Professor yelled in a vain attempt to stop the noise, "GIRLS!!!" Both Blossom and Bubbles stopped shouting at each other and looked up at their father, both with suppressed rage gleaming in their eyes. "Why on earth are you two fighting like this?" The professor wondered how the two quarreling siblings could get so worked up over a drawing. On cue, Blossom and Bubbles began simultaneously yelling and pointing at each other. The Professor only shook his head wondering why he couldn't learn to ask only one daughter for an explanation on why they arguing. "Alright that's enough! Bubbles can you tell me what's wrong."  
  
"Well, I was trying to color a pretty picture of pretty pink pony, and Blossom started bugging me about it, so I told her to leave me alone and." Bubbles began to answer in the cutest voice she could muster.  
  
"You told me 'if I didn't like your pictures I could cram it with walnuts' and then you called me ugly!" Blossom angrily interrupted. Buttercup started to crack up, the mental image of Bubbles telling Blossom that was probably the most hilarious thing she could imagine. A warning glance from the Professor stopped her from totally losing it, but it took a considerable amount of effort to hold it in.  
  
"Well, its only because you wouldn't leave me alone." Bubbles angrily retorted.  
  
"Look Bubbles, it's my duty as your sister and leader to help you develop and mature."  
  
"You think just because you're the leader you get boss everybody around! If I were the leader."  
  
"HA! You wouldn't last one week as leader!"  
  
"Ooooh! I would too!"  
  
"Oh really?" An idea swirled around in Blossom's brain. "You're really sure about that?"  
  
"Yes!" Bubbles answered defiantly.  
  
"Care to make a wager on that?" Blossom slyly replied.  
  
"A what?" Bubbles demeanor went from anger to confusion almost instantly.  
  
"You're betting Bubbles she'd last a week as leader?" Buttercup didn't like where this was heading.  
  
"That's right Buttercup, and it'll be your job to relieve her of her command when she messes up." Blossom told her sister, preventing any problems the dark haired girl. "That is, if she's brave enough to accept the challenge." She added giving Bubbles a look that was guaranteed to get the reaction that Blossom had hoped for.  
  
"I accept." Bubbles told her red haired sister.  
  
"Good, because if you lose, you're going to be my slave for a month."  
  
"And if I win, you're going to be my slave for month and you have to stop telling me how to color my pictures."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine." The two sisters then shook hands sealing the deal.  
  
Later that night  
  
"You're nuts. I hope you know that." Buttercup told her red-haired sister.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Look Red, in case you haven't noticed, all our worst enemies are on vacation and they ain't comin' back in at least a month and there hasn't been any good monster attacks lately."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So, you really think Bubbles can't handle being leader when there's nothing going on?"  
  
"Oh Buttercup, don't worry about it." Blossom chuckled. "My plan will work out as usual."  
  
"Well, just so you know, the Professor made it clear that he expects me to be fair with Bubbles, as in I have to explain to him why I fired her as leader."  
  
"And you should, but don't worry, I'm pretty sure we're due for a monster attack. And besides, there's a lot more to being a leader than shouting out orders and bossing people around, as you like to put it, and our sister is going to find that out the hard way."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. ACT II: Bubbles Boards the Leadership

Authors Notes: To Pathwarden, that line is on the game over screen of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. To all who had reviewed thank you for taking the time to comment, I greatly appreciate it. P.S. Can you guess the newscaster Buttercup has a crush on, those answer correctly shall receive mad propz. But enough of this, enjoy.  
  
PART TWO  
  
Visions of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows were disturbed by a loud voice. "Time to wake up leader girl." Bubbles wearily opened her eyes and begun to focus on the sea of pink, black and white that were Blossom's. "You've got a big day ahead you."  
  
"Ugh, what time is it?"  
  
"It's 7 o'clock and you've got a lot to do today."  
  
"Uhh, like what?"  
  
"Well you have to come with plans for fighting monsters, for starters."  
  
"Aww, can't I just use yours?" Bubbles asked in a whiny, tired voice.  
  
"Now Bubbles, as leader it's your responsibility to come up with your own plans. I didn't use anybody else's plans, so you can't use mine." The condescending tone Blossom used really irritated Bubbles. She hadn't been this tempted to strangle someone since Buttercup pulled the exploding toilet gag on her.  
  
"But I'm still sleepy."  
  
"Giving up already?" That woke Bubbles up.  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Good, now if you don't mind I'm going back to sleep." Blossom felt a little guilty putting her sister through this, but she went through the same thing when they started out as Townsville's official protectors, and besides nobody called her ugly and got away with it. Bubbles just glared at her now sleeping sister. She was half tempted to force Blossom into going on a morning jog except that would mean dragging Buttercup along, which meant waking Buttercup, which meant getting the snot beaten out of her. That is, if Buttercup was in bed in the first place.  
  
"BLOSSOM, WAKE UP!!!!!!"  
  
"What? What's wrong?" Blossom looked up to see Bubbles panicked and about ready to cry.  
  
"It's Buttercup she's missing!"  
  
"Oh brother, Buttercup always takes off somewhere in the morning. You didn't know that?"  
  
"Nuh-uh. Where does she go?"  
  
"Another part of your duties is to know where your sisters are at all times." Blossom saw that Bubbles was still ready to turn on the waterworks. "Trust me Bubbles, Buttercup is safe and she'll be back sooner or later, so quit worrying, get to work and let me sleep."  
  
"(sigh) Okay."  
  
A few hours later, Buttercup came home safe and sound. When asked about where she had been, Buttercup simply responded she was 'out.' Since Buttercup was both safe and unusually relaxed, Bubbles decided not to press her sister any further and get back to drawing up her battle plans. When she was satisfied with her work, the new leader had called a war meeting.  
  
".and after that, we go in and strike the final blow and ta-dahhh, end of monster." Bubbles was careful to explain her plans in detail. She pointed out key points, bringing order the triple colored chaos of lines and curves, explaining the meaning of each and every twist and turn and what each puff was expected to do.  
  
"Those are some good plans, Bubbles." Blossom had to admit she was impressed with Bubbles's planning abilities. Bubbles only beamed at Blossom's compliment. "Except one thing."  
  
"What?" Bubbles was sure she hadn't left anything out while she made her plans.  
  
"You forgot to tell Buttercup!" Sure enough, Buttercup was absent from the meeting.  
  
"Oh, no I didn't. Buttercup hates these meetings so I didn't make her come."  
  
"Now Bubbles, I'm well aware of Buttercup's attitude towards these meetings but." Blossom's lecture had been cut of by the buzz of the hotline. Townsville was once again in peril. Bubbles was more than happy to answer it, seeing how it was a chance see how well her plans would work and to test a theory she had.  
  
"Hel-lo" Bubbles answered in her sweetest voice. What sounded like confused squawking came out of the earpiece. "(giggle) No Mayor, you didn't dial the wrong number." Even Bubbles knew that would be a little difficult due to the fact that the hotline was a direct line. "This is Bubbles. I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" Bubbles was answered by the Mayor casually conversing followed by Ms. Bellum screaming angrily yet again at the simple man. After a minute Bubbles announced "A monster is attacking Townsville, again."  
  
"Where at?"  
  
"Umm. He didn't say."  
  
"It's a monster Blossom. I'm sure even Bubbles wouldn't have a problem with finding one of those wrecking the city." Bubbles and Blossom swung around to find Buttercup standing in the doorway. "What? I heard the hotline so I came up."  
  
"Well girls, let's get that bad ol' monster." Bubbles ordered and promptly flew out the window and towards downtown Townsville, with her sisters following suit.  
  
Sure enough Buttercup was right, the green monstrosity that had decided to do some impromptu demolition work in Townsville was extremely hard to miss. The creature was a mass of tentacles supporting a "flower" of green tubes and shorter tentacles surrounding a large mouth with lots of sharp teeth. "Looks a lot like a malboro." Buttercup commented to her sisters.  
  
Bubbles studied the monster for a few seconds before decided a course of action. "Okay girls, let's try Plan Kitty-Tangelo-Sunshine-Marshmallow."  
  
Buttercup gave her sister a confused look. "What?"  
  
"You get to beat up the monster." Bubbles happily answered.  
  
"Now that's my kind of plan." Buttercup shot off towards the monster who had stopped chewing a car in a vain attempt to find a tasty pink center inside and turned its attention towards the three young super heroes. Blossom silently groaned in disgust. The particular plan required a lot of fancy maneuvering on everyone's part and Buttercup, when left her own devices, never used fancy maneuvers. Blossom could only hope Buttercup had enough sense to recognize this level of incompetent leadership on Bubbles's part before it was too late.  
  
"QUICK, BUTTERCUP FLY UP!!!"  
  
Blossom's thoughts were interrupted by Bubbles's high-pitched shriek. The flaxen haired puff began screaming directions at Buttercup, each order corresponding with the green line on the plan that Bubbles had made earlier. What had really amazed Blossom was that Buttercup was actually following the commands that Bubbles was continually shrieking out.  
  
'I don't believe this. Buttercup hardly ever follows orders. It's if they were.' Blossom's train of thought was rudely interrupted by one of the monster's tentacles ramming her and sending her sailing towards an apartment building.  
  
Tom Goodman had set a box down on his counter across from his window. It was a newly purchased box of sixty eggs. Tom had opened his refrigerator and begun to make space for his new box of eggs, wondering why on earth he would need that many, considering he was a bachelor. As Tom was clearing an empty spot on a refrigerator shelf for his latest acquisition when the shattering of his window had grabbed his attention. When Tom turned around to investigate the commotion, he discovered he had lost his five dozen of eggs but at least he had an interesting story to tell the guys at work tomorrow.  
  
Bubbles gave quick glance towards the location where her former lead was once at and sighed unhappily. 'Sometimes Blossom can be a little too rigid and uncreative for her own good.' she thought while turning her attention back to fighting the beast. Buttercup was busy raining blow after blow on the malboro, as Buttercup had called it, when Bubbles noticed it was taking a deep breath. "BUTTERCUP, WATCH OUT!!!" Buttercup had narrowly avoided a cloud of noxious gas that the monster had spewed from its maw. The gas shot past the brunette and dissolved a building that was intended to be the future site of Townsville's largest arcade. "Wow, that's some bad breath." Bubbles joked. Buttercup wasn't laughing though, she was really looking forward to arcade opening, and thanks to the lethal cloud that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Her green eyes burning with intense rage, the toughest fighter grabbed a nearby spire and threw it into the malboro's head, bringing an end to the beast's rampage and saving the day.  
  
Covered head to toe in egg whites and broken yolks, Blossom glumly flew back to where the battle had taken place. When she arrived on scene, the egg-covered puff discovered that the creature had been defeated, impaled by a long gray spire. Bubbles flew up to her sister and discovered the redhead's new look.  
  
"Tee-hee, Gee Blossom it looks like you got."  
  
"Don't say it!" Blossom shouted.  
  
"You see, Buttercup followed my plan exactly." Bubbles told her sister.  
  
"But how?"  
  
"It's just like playing video games."  
  
After the trio received their usual accolades and gone home, Blossom immediately hit the shower and spent a good forty-five minutes cleaning the egg gunk off her body and out of her hair. Exhausted by depression and the intense cleaning process, the red haired puff decided her underwear and a bathrobe were good enough clothes for the rest of the day. Resting in the bean bag chair next to Buttercup, who had been inspired by today's monster du jour to play an old favorite, Blossom glumly sorted through her thoughts. 'I can't believe how well Bubbles is doing. Oh man, I'm gonna lose our bet. What if Bubbles is so good she becomes the leader permanently. This is awful. What am I gonna do?' Blossom sadly slumped further and fought back tears. Blossom's vision of a dire future for herself was suddenly interrupted by her sister.  
  
"Ugh, I can never figure out this dumb code!"  
  
Blossom watched the television screen for a minute, studying the advice that one character had been giving about the code that had stymied Buttercup. "Try Circle, Square, X, X." Blossom told Buttercup. Sure enough, Blossom was right.  
  
"Huh, how did you know what it was."  
  
"Simple, I just followed the clues. and solved. the mystery." A smile grew on Blossom's face. She may have found a way out of her predicament. "Oh Buttercup, you know that one secret, special power that you think nobody knows you have?"  
  
Buttercup had dropped the controller in shock. She couldn't possibly know about that, could she? "W-What secret power?" Buttercup looked as if she had been caught stealing from the cookie jar.  
  
"You know what I'm talking about." Blossom replied slyly giving her sister an evil grin.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. ACT III: The Case of the Missing Octi

Act III  
  
Next Day, Sometime in the afternoon  
  
Buttercup and Blossom were spending a seemingly uneventful day watching the television.  
  
"Next on Fashion Review, we take a look at Hayman I. Machivelli's latest designs." The screen then showed an eerily familiar looking man with an eerily familiar high-pitched voice happily describing costumes that most people wouldn't see outside a fashion show or the academy awards.  
  
"Think he's up to something?" Blossom casually asked.  
  
"Nah." Buttercup responded, not really caring about the show.  
  
"Really? Why not."  
  
"You know how he gets about this boring fashion stuff. He's more obsessed about it than anything else."  
  
"Hmmm." It never ceased to amaze Blossom how insightful Buttercup could be at times. Whatever thoughts that followed were disrupted by a high pitched shriek a few decibels away from setting off nearby car alarms. The girls and the Professor ran up to the bedroom to find Bubbles in a wild-eyed panic ransacking the place.  
  
"WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS HE?!"  
  
"Calm down honey. Where is who?" The Professor said in a vain attempt to calm his daughter.  
  
"Octi. Last night I put him right here with his friends and when I came to get him to show him my new plans, he was goooone." Bubbles broke down and began sobbing hysterically.  
  
"Now sweetie, I'm sure he's around here somewhere."  
  
"I don't know Professor, Bubbles is pretty good about remembering where she put her stuffed animals." Blossom told her father. "It looks like we got a mystery on our hands."  
  
Bubbles and The Professor immediately shot accusing glances at Buttercup. "What!?" Was the green-eyed puff's irritated response.  
  
"It couldn't have been Buttercup, she's been with me all day." Blossom said removing any doubt that the Professor and Bubbles might have had.  
  
"Uh, sorry sweetie it's just that it.. well.. er.." The Professor stammered out an apology. Buttercup just grumbled.  
  
"That means Octi was stolen by a stranger!" Everyone could tell what Bubbles was going to do next and covered their ears and gritted their teeth steeling themselves for what was coming.  
  
A few minutes later, the Mayor had answered the umpteenth call about the loud and unpleasant screech that had echoed all through out Townsville. "Yes, Yes, I heard it too. I can smell you know!" The Mayor slammed down the phone, and left his desk to gaze out into the cityscape. 'My, what an unpleasant sound that was. I hope the girls heard it, and beat up whatever made it.' The Mayor contemplated further on the on his thoughts, when something occurred to him, 'What was I thinking about again?'  
  
After recovering from Bubble's outburst, the girls and the Professor looked up to see Bubbles's blue eyes burning with rage and determination. Wiping away a tear, Bubbles addressed her troops, "Girls, we need to find Octi."  
  
"And how do you propose we do that?" Blossom asked.  
  
"Hmmm." Bubbles thought for a minute before deciding upon a strategy. "Well since I couldn't find any clues here, we'll hafta check out all the bad guys in Townsville."  
  
"Wait a minute, we can't just do that!" Blossom exclaimed.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Well for starters all of the major villains are on vacation."  
  
"They could've come back." Bubbles replied indignantly.  
  
"Uh, Ok, second we don't have a search warrant." Blossom continued weakly.  
  
"Since when did we need search warrants?" Buttercup asked. Blossom gave Buttercup an annoyed glare.  
  
"Look we just can't go around breaking into.."  
  
"I'm the leader now, and I say we search the bad guys' houses." Bubbles angrily told her sisters. Blossom looked at Buttercup who look at the Professor who just returned Buttercup's look and shook his head, he didn't like it but Bubbles had a legitimate strategy. "Let's go, Octi's in danger." With that, Bubbles flew out the window with her two sisters reluctantly flying behind her. The Professor sighed and headed back to his lab, whatever money he was going to make off his next invention was undoubtedly was going to pay for whatever damages his daughters were going to cause.  
  
First on Bubbles's itinerary was Mojo Jojo's volcano top hide out. After the girls flew through their usual entrance, that is, of course, the roof, Bubble ordered her sisters to search the compound for missing toy. Before they could do any property damage, Blossom caught sight of a small stack of papers on a table illuminated by a solitary lamp. "Hey wait a minute, let see what that is." When the girls floated to investigate, they noticed that top sheet bore the words in large type 'TO THE POWERPUFF GIRLS.'  
  
"Its probably about Octi." Bubbles stated and removed the top sheet and studied the next. Finding the text too small and the words too big for her to completely understand what Mojo's letter was trying to say she shoved the papers to Blossom and promptly ordered her read the contents.  
  
Blossom groaned and began, "Dear Powerpuff Girls, If you are reading this then your have entered my domicile unwarranted. You are now in my home without a good reason, for I, Mojo Jojo, am still on vacation and presently not in Townsville. I have taken leave of Townsville and will not return until a time that I have decided when it is the end of my vacation and it is time for me return to Townsville and destroy you and take over Townsville.. It goes on like this. He's not here, Bubbles, he couldn't have taken Octi."  
  
"He might have taken it earlier."  
  
"But you had it yesterday."  
  
"JUST READ IT!"  
  
Blossom groaned and continued reading the lengthy letter.  
  
Two Hours Later  
  
"..so leave my evil lair without breaking anything and remove your presence from my inner sanctum without damages. Sincerely Yours, Mojo Jojo." Blossom croaked out the final words of Mojo Jojo's letter. Blossom dropped the papers and looked at her sisters. Buttercup had curled up in a recliner and fallen asleep, but Bubbles was hanging on every read word.  
  
After thinking for a minute, Bubbles spoke up, "Hmmm, so it wasn't Mojo Jojo, we'll hafta try somewhere else." It took an ungodly amount of willpower to keep Blossom from wringing the blonde's neck and cramming the lengthy note down the young girl's throat. "C'mon girls, we've got other places to check." This roused Buttercup from her nap.  
  
"Huh, we done here?"  
  
"She made me.. read the whole.. dang thing." Blossom panted. The pink- eyed puff swore she heard Buttercup mutter something about karma as the two flew after their new leader.  
  
The girls entered the run down shack that sat in the shadows of the Townsville Dump, which served as the headquarters of the Gangrene Gang. Upon their arrival, the girls found amongst the discarded pizza boxes, emptied spray paint cans and other assorted filth was a solitary member of the juvenile delinquents who harassed the Townsville citizenry, Big Billy.  
  
"D-ahh, Hello!" the lummox happily greeted the girls.  
  
"Big Billy!" the girls exclaimed simultaneously. "Did the Gangrene Gang take my Octi?" Bubbles angrily asked the green behemoth.  
  
"Ha-ha No, gang not here, just Billy."  
  
"Where did they go?"  
  
"D-ahh, gang went to ride on big choo-choo." Billy answered pointing roughly in the direction of the train yards. "Ace said Billy could no ride choo-choo, Ace say Billy too big and would break it if Billy jumped in." Billy added sadly. "So Billy stay here and write papers to get money from collige stoodents."  
  
"What?! Let me see one of those papers." Blossom demanded. Billy handed Blossom one of the papers he had written. Upon reading, Blossom's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Buttercup seized the paper from the awe- struck Blossom.  
  
"Lessee here, blah blah internet, blah blah new media, hey Billy what is this?"  
  
"Paper about the effect of the Internet and the new flow of information on society and how the old media must now compete with the new source of public information." Billy told the perplexed puff.  
  
"Oohkay, well I guess he's clean boss." Buttercup told Bubbles.  
  
"(sigh) Alright, let's try somewhere else. C'mon Blossom." Bubbles said as she prepared to fly out the door. Big Billy waved to the girls as they flew to their next destination.  
  
When the girls flew into Him's lair, Blossom and Buttercup expected the place to empty of its resident since he was on television earlier that day. Evidently the girls underestimated Him's travelling abilities because there he was chugging away on his latest fashion designs.  
  
"Well hello girls, to what do I owe the pleasure." The archfiend of this world asked his favorite targets.  
  
"You know why we're here! Give back Octi or else, you big meany." Bubbles responded defiantly.  
  
"You think I stole your silly toy? Oh, Bubbles, you silly child, I couldn't have taken it." Him cooed in his high-pitched tone.  
  
"Oh yeah, why not."  
  
"It's quite simple my dear. As your sisters can vouch for me, I've been much too busy adding my spice to the fashion industry." Bubbles looked to Blossom and Buttercup who nodded. "You see, the latest designs that those pathetic so-called fashion gurus came up with have been an abysmal disappointment and I couldn't stand idly by and watch so I took some time off to come up with some designs of my own."  
  
"Oh I guess, you're innocent." Bubbles spoke embarrassed.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but I know what you mean." Him looked at the girls and smiled. "Speaking of fashion, there's been something I've been wanting to do with the three of you and now is the perfect time." The demon approached the trio who steeled themselves preparing for whatever Him was planning.  
  
One hour later  
  
"Well, Fuzzy's isn't here either." Bubbles sighed unhappily, bedecked in her new pink and blue "magical girl" outfit that Him had decided that she looked good in. Buttercup who was now dressed similarly to James Dean in a 1950's biker movie, reread the soiled piece of paper, 'Visiting kin in Tennessee. P.S. GET OFF MY PROPERTAH!!!'  
  
"Uh-huh, can we go home now?" the exasperated puff asked. She was officially sick of the wild goose chase that Bubbles had been leading them on.  
  
"But we still hafta check out Princess."  
  
"Oh come on Bubbles, Princess has been in Monaco since summer vacation started. Remember those dumb postcards she keeps sending us to make us jealous?"  
  
"Yeah. Let's go home now." Bubbles answered sadly.  
  
"Finally, and try not to take all night, Red." Buttercup grumbled at Blossom.  
  
"I was trying to be careful, I don't want anyone seeing me like this." Blossom responded defensively. For reasons that only he knew, Him gave Blossom the "Goth Princess" look. Blossom would rather have no one see her in the black leather outfit that Him had forced her to wear.  
  
"Geez, Bloss, it's the middle of the night. Nobody up this late is gonna care." Buttercup snarled.  
  
"Yeah, and besides you look pretty good in black." Bubbles giggled. With that, the girls flew home from their fruitless search.  
  
Weary from exhaustion and depression, Bubbles slipped into the bed and cried herself to sleep. Buttercup watched her sobbing sister and groaned, her guilty conscience pounding her like a jackhammer. She shot a dirty look at the direction of Blossom, who was still in the bathroom trying to wash off the pale makeup that Him used to complete his enigmatic vision of the red haired girl. 'It's bad enough she's blackmailing me about them, but she had to get them involved too. You're gonna pay for this Red, one way or another you're gonna get yours." 


	4. ACT IV: Buttercup Revealed

PART IV  
  
Sleep didn't come easy for the distraught Bubbles. Half of the night she laid in the bed awake worrying about her beloved Octi. What little sleep she did get, was haunted by dreams of various atrocities being committed by unknown perpetrator against the purple stuffed octopus. Early in the morning the blue-eyed puff unhappily went over her thoughts. 'Poor Octi, what am I going to do. Maybe I should give up and let Blossom take over. I don't wanna be her slave but what can I do?' As Bubbles pondered over her miserable fate, the noise of one of her sisters waking up disrupted her train of thought. Bubbles caught a glimpse of Buttercup rolling out of bed and drifting towards the closet. 'Why is Buttercup up so early? Oh yeah, she likes to go out. I wonder where she goes.' The memory of Blossom telling her that, as leader, it was her job to keep track of her sister, stuck in the young heroine's mind, she decided today she would do just that. Bubbles curiosity was amplified exponentially when she heard the shower running. 'Is Buttercup taking a shower? I thought she liked being dirty and yucky.' Bubbles waited in bed patiently, feigning sleep, for the sound of her sister zooming out the window. When the coast was cleared, Bubbles quickly got dressed and stealthily followed her tough sister.  
  
"One bag of ranch flavored sunflower seeds, one doughnut and a small coffee, that'll be $3.98 please." A cheerful female convenience store clerk said as she beamed at Buttercup. Buttercup paid the young woman and readjusted the black baseball cap she was wearing. "Thank you for coming and have a great day."  
  
"Thanks, you too." Buttercup left the store and scanned the sky. Knowing that Blossom knew her morning routine left the raven-haired girl a little more paranoid than usual. 'All clear, I guess.' Buttercup walked to a bus stop and hopped on the bench. The bus rolled in and picked up the super hero.  
  
"Good morning, young lady, going to the park again?" the driver asked Buttercup.  
  
"Yep." Buttercup answered as she paid the fare and took her seat.  
  
Bubbles found tracking her sister to be a difficult endeavor. First, Buttercup had opted to dress more like a normal child, wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt, a green jacket and a black baseball cap. Second, upon reaching the distant city where the two were presently located in, Buttercup hit the ground and began walking to reach her checkpoints. 'Very strange' Bubbles thought to herself while trying to keep tabs on her sister while trying not to get spotted herself. Bubbles carefully followed the bus to a park near some houses, where Buttercup had gotten off. Bubbles tracked Buttercup through the park still being careful not to be seen. 'This is neat, I'm just like Cate Archer, super spy.' Bubbles hadn't been this excited since she hacked into Blossom's computer diary. However what Bubbles discovered shocked her to the core.  
  
Buttercup scanned the area of the park still wondering if she had been followed when a small voice caught her attention.  
  
"Hamha Buttercup." Buttercup now focused her attention on a group of hamsters of various colors, shapes and sizes who emerged from the underbrush to greet her.  
  
(Author's Note "text" = The hamster, or ham if you will, language.)  
  
"Hi guys." A tiny hamster with a yellow cloth draped over her, Penelope, bounded over to Buttercup and squeaked at the girl wanting to be picked up. Buttercup giggled and picked up the little ham and tickled her behind the ears. "Okyoo" the hamster squeaked joyously.  
  
"Didja bring the special treats you promised us for helping you?" A large hamster with gray spots asked, his black eyes twinkling in anticipation.  
  
"Oxnard, that's like so totally rude of you." A tiger striped hamster with a ribbon tied to her tail, Sandy, admonished the larger one.  
  
"Ha-ha, yeah I got you all a big bag of sunflower seeds, ranch flavored." The ham-hams cheered as Buttercup produced the large bag of seeds and dug in as soon as she opened it.  
  
"Gee thanks Buttercup, there are delicious." An orange and white hamster, Hamtaro, paused from his krumping to thank the brunette.  
  
"Glad you like them. It was the least I could do after all the trouble I put you guys through."  
  
"It was no trouble. I had fun. It was pretty neat seeing where you live. I've never been to a super hero's house before." Hamtaro answered.  
  
"I liked being able to see a new city with entirely different culture." Added a slender brown and white hamster, Maxwell, who always reminded Buttercup of Blossom.  
  
"It was fun sneaking around in there, and taking that funny looking toy. I felt like Cate Archer, super spy." Oxnard smiled. This comment earned the large hamster strange looks from the rest of the group. "That's from one of Kana's computer games."  
  
"And we put the Octi in our clubhouse where no one can ever find it." Hamtaro added with a chuckle.  
  
"Thanks again guys, you're the best." Buttercup said as she handed out more sunflower seeds.  
  
"Ookyoo" Penelope squeaked happily as she took a ranch-flavored seed from the puffs hand. Everyone was having a grand time unaware that they were being watched by a pair of large blue eyes.  
  
Bubbles couldn't believe what she was seeing. Buttercup, the cute-hating tomboy, was hanging around with hamsters and enjoying herself. Suddenly, it all made sense, the outfit the green-eyed puff begged the Professor to buy but Bubbles had never seen worn, the brunette's sudden relaxed demeanor, the two-hour laughing fit Blossom had one morning, it all came together. Bubbles frowned as she watched and listened to her sister squeaking and chittering along with the tiny creatures. Hearing enough, the blond angrily confronted her sister, "Buttercup, how could you!"  
  
Buttercup and company swung around in terror to see an infuriated Bubbles glaring angrily at them, or more specifically Buttercup. Buttercup realized that her sister had been listening in on their conversation. 'Oh man, I'm in for it now.' Buttercup thought terrified. It was all over, the Professor was going to forbid her from seeing her ham friends again, her reputation as the toughest fighter would be forever tarnished, she was going to be grounded, she would be forever sentenced to a hamster free life of ridicule and shame.  
  
"After all this time, you've been playing with cute little hamsters and you didn't tell me!" Buttercup looked flabbergasted. 'She isn't mad about Octi?' "And you can talk to them too? Didn't you know I had so many questions I wanted to ask Twiggy!?" Buttercup slowly smiled and sighed with relief. Bubbles couldn't speak hamster. "I like hamsters too, you know." Bubbles added giving Buttercup big puppy-dog eyes with a timid, cute voice that matched her look.  
  
"Gee, I'm sorry Bubbles, it's just that.. well.. um.. er.. I hafta get up so early to play with them, and I know you like to sleep in.." Buttercup began stammering out an excuse when she was interrupted by three more hamsters carrying a certain stuffed octopus with a top hat.  
  
"Hey Buttercup, Bijou and Pashmina wanted to rearrange the furniture in da clubhouse so we had to bring your toy outside to make room." The big hamster wearing a safety helmet, Boss, said.  
  
"Yeah, you might say it ate up all the space. Hee-Hee-Haw-Haw." Another hamster wearing a red apron, Howdy, joked. "Geddit, it's a joke. Y'all should be laughin."  
  
"Man Howdy, that was like so totally lame." The third hamster, Stan, who looked like a male version of Sandy.  
  
"Say isn't that the goil we saw Buttercup's room? Uh, why is she lookin at us like dat?" Boss asked with a sweatdrop forming on his head.  
  
Later, that afternoon  
  
With the girls and the Professor gone, Blossom decided to enjoy a soap opera that was playing. 'You don't love me. You only love your eyes, ears and throat pavilion.' 'I've dedicated my life to the diseases of the head holes, but it never got rid of the hole in my heart.' Blossom was really getting into the televised conversation when it was interrupted by a news bulletin.  
  
'This is Stanley Whitfield reporting live from City Hall, where Powerpuff Girl Bubbles is about to make an announcement.'  
  
'People of Townsville, I'm happy to announce that I have captured the evil Octi-nappers.' Bubbles was referring to group of scared hamsters, a few of them squeaking desperately at Buttercup. 'These bad hamsters tricked Buttercup into taking them to my house and helping them steal my poor Octi.' Blossom groaned guiltily, Bubbles wasn't supposed to find out about Buttercup's hamsters.  
  
'And as Mayor, I can assure the good people of Townsville that these evil doing hamsters will be going to jail for a long time.' The Mayor added. With that, half of the group of hamsters began bawling and the other half began to squeak at Buttercup even more desperately. The one in the red apron began to act like it was the end of the world.  
  
Blossom slumped down in the couch, her conscience bearing down on her. That's when she caught Buttercup's expression, an expression that filled the redhead with pure terror. It was 'The Look.' Blossom had only seen 'The Look' once but it was definitely memorable. An especially tough monster had scored a cheap shot on Bubbles, breaking her arm. The blonde's pathetic wailing set something off in Buttercup, which led to the monster's horrific demise. When the green-eyed puff had finished, half of the city was covered in monster gore. Blossom had nightmares for weeks about the expression Buttercup wore while she avenged Bubbles pain. Now 'The Look' was pointed directly at her. Blossom immediately left the house and sped off towards City Hall.  
  
Blossom crashed into the City Hall pressroom. "STOP!!! It wasn't the hamsters, it was me."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Mayor asked suspiciously.  
  
"The Octi-napping was my idea. I blackmailed Buttercup into helping me steal Octi. I had her use her hamster talking power to talk her hamster friends into sneaking into the house and taking Octi. We then took the hamsters back to their park and hid Octi with them. Please don't put them in jail." Blossom babbled quickly on the verge of tears.  
  
"We know." Bubbles told her sister smugly.  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"I followed Buttercup this morning and found her and the hamsters with Octi. I then asked Buttercup, 'Hey, what's going on here?' Then she told me about how you were gonna tell everyone that she hung out with hamsters if she didn't help you steal my Octi. So I thought, 'That dirty Blossom, I'm gonna teach her a lesson' so here we are."  
  
"But the news release?"  
  
"We taped it earlier and I had it beamed directly to the house." The Professor answered proudly.  
  
"Stanley Whitfield?"  
  
"I promised next time he tried to interview me, I'd actually do it instead of telling him where he can stick his microphone." Buttercup grumbled.  
  
"The Mayor?"  
  
"Well, I didn't have anything better to do." He answered.  
  
"The hamsters?"  
  
"They're back in their homes safe and sound." Bubbles answered happily.  
  
"Now Blossom, you what you did was wrong." The Professor admonished his daughter.  
  
"Yes." She responded miserably.  
  
"And I believe your leader has thought of the perfect punishment for you."  
  
"Blossom, for doing all that bad stuff, your gonna hafta get up early and go jogging for an hour, for the rest of the week. And I gonna go with you to make sure you do it." Bubbles told her already miserable sister. Blossom only groaned in response.  
  
So the rest of the week went by without any major incident. Just a few robberies that were easily handled and the return of the Gangrene Gang who were too shook up by their experiences with real gangs to do anything. Bubbles and Buttercup were sitting in their beanbag chairs happily playing video games.  
  
"WATCH OUT FOR THE BATS! OH NO, THE GHOST LADY IS GONNA MAKE THE ICE FALL DOWN AGAIN!" Bubbles resumed her duties as Buttercup's advisor.  
  
"Yeah I know, chill out sheesh." Buttercup grumbled. "So do you still want be leader?"  
  
"Nah, it wasn't all that great. I'd much rather let Blossom do all that stuff, and besides if I were leader, I couldn't come with you and play with those cute little hamsters. Can I?"  
  
"Sure." Buttercup smiled at her sister.  
  
"Really? Hooray! Say are you thirsty?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Bubbles then rang a little bell she had next to her. Blossom floated to her. "Yes master?" she asked bitterly.  
  
"Blossom, bring us two glasses of lemonade, chop-chop." The blond snapped.  
  
"Yes master." Blossom headed to accomplish her task while thinking, 'This is gonna be a long month.'  
  
THE END 


End file.
